Yarn conditioning



Patented Feb. 14, 1950 UNITED FATQ E oral-cs Carro'lliF.

:E. I. du iPont, de.;-Nemurs & Company, Wilmington, Bel -a-c0rporation== of. .l)elaware No'DraWing. Application June 14,194:6,

" Serial NOKGTGEQQLEO- This invention relates to :the dressing of textilfib er-s, filaments and yarns and more particularly like.

7 "Impreparation for subsequent operationssuch as spoolin'g, throwing,dyeing, etc., and in some "cases to improve the appearance and hand-gitis customary to dress the freshly spun yarn with a finish compos'itionwhich generally comprises one or a mixture of :oils such as mineraloils, "dryingoilsanim'al oils, vegetable oils, sulfonated lution,emulsion or dispersion. This treatment serves one or a number of thefollowing purposesz -'case of cellulose acetate) to facilitate dyeing20f --the yarn package, to increase tensile-strength, tenacity weight'of' the yarn to some ex-tent, "to impart to {the 'yarn luster,-softness and/or flexibility, to "bond-the fibersor filaments of theyarn, etc. 'The' exact composition "employed depends, of course, on the:"effects desired, but it "ismoSt-difificulttO' formulate a compositionwhich 'is's'atisiactory inevery respect'and it is especially *difllcu ltto formulatea'finish compositionwhich will notadversely affect thepackage 'orcake'f orto:improved finish compositions :ior fibers, fila-"merits-and yarns of cellulose acetate and the :Briefiy :sta'tedtherefore, any invention .com-

-:prises; a"pply1ing :to freshly formed artificial Iyarn,

derived from any source, fr0m-0;005% to 0.075%, based on the dry Weightof the treated yarn, of a polyvinyl alcohol contained in an aqueous oilemulsion-finish composition.

The term polyvinyl alcohol appearing herein is used in its acceptedtrade sense and denotes the water-soluble types of partially saponifiedand fully saponified polyvinyl'a'cet'ate. For purposes of the presentinvention, it is preferred'to use .,-polyvinyl alcohols of lowviscosity, 1. e., polyvinyl oils; antioxidants, wetting fagents,anti-static agents, sizes anda variety of other materials, both organicand inorganic, commonly in aqueous soalcohols havinga maximum solutionviscosity of to centipoises in 4% aqueous solution-at C. The amount ofpolyvinyl alcohol incor- -porated in the ,yarn must be maintained within"to prevent abrasion 'or'bre'akage =of-fthe yarn -during twisting -orspooling, to counteract or 'offset the effects of 1 static charges(particularlyin' the thezlimitszof -.0-.O053%- to 0.075% by weight,based on the dry Weight of the treated yarn. If more than 0.075% ofpolyvinyl alcohol is used, poor cake formation occurs, there is stickingto under layers (especially after aging), crocking on guides and, ingeneral, the results are unsatisfactory. The use of polyvinyl alcohol inaccordance with the principles of this inventionis not to beconfusedwith its use as a yarn size, for in the present case, the amountof polyvinyl alcohol is insufllmation 'of headless packages.

Anobject'df thisinvention therefore istoprovide improved compositionswith which to dress textilenbers, filaments and yarns.

Another object is to provide aqueous finish emulsions which will producesubstantial im- *provemen'tsin yarn frictional properties and yarnquality.

Still another object is to treat cellulose acetate.yarn whereby tosecure better package forcient to give asizing eiiect; i, e., there is'no filament or thread-to-thread adhesion as in sized :yarn. Moreover,the advantages of sizing are ,generally related only to dried yarn,Whereas the advantages of this invention are realized more particularlywithyarn that has not been submitted to a drying action.

As a finish or lubricant composition, there may be employedany of theusual aqueous emulsions .;containing mineral, vegetable and/or animaloil,

sulfonated-oils, amine salts, anti-static agents,

vMpolyhydric alcohols, etc. which have'hereto'fore -beenused in thedressing of textile fibers, filaments and yarns. The concentration ofpolyivinyl alcohol in the dressing composition will .mation and yarn ofimproved quality. L'Ihese' andother objects will more clearly appearhereinafter.

Unexpectedly, I have found that the presence on yarn of a relativelysmall amount of polyvinyl alcohol, applied as a constituent of the usualaqueous oil emulsion type of dressing,.works a remarkable improvement inthe quality and handling characteristics of the yarns and, inparticular, imparts to the yarn a lower coeffioient of friction.

depend, of'course, upon the amount of composition applied to the yarnand should be adjusted to provide an amount of polyvinyl alcohol in theyarnwithin the-limits hereinabove specified.

To more viu'lly illustrate the practice and advantages of thisinvention, the following example is given. Parts and percentagecomposition are by weight unless otherwise indicated.

Example I '75 denier, 50 filament, 3,0 turn cellulose acetate yarn of54.5% combined acetic acid containing 3.4% (calculated as solids) of afinish of the following composition:

40 solution of a 1 E565 salt of phenyl phenate) 1.4 Polyvinyl alcohol(86-89% saponified; sap

onification No. 127-157; viscosity-5 centipoises) 0.5

(applied as a water emulsion containing 22.7% solids) was tube wound,without drying, into three pound packages. Compared with three poundpackages of identical yarn wound in the same way and dressed with thesame relative amount of a finish composition (regular finish) containingno polyvinyl alcohol but otherwise identical with that specified above,the following In addition, the package formation was excellent, andthere was no objectionable crocking on guide or roll surfaces.

Example II 75 denier, 50 filament, 3.0 turn cellulose acetate yarn of54.51% combined acetic acid containing about 3.4% (calculated as solids)of a finish of the following composition:

Percent Butyl acetyl ricinoleate 10.0 Triethanola-mine oleate 22.3Sulfonated peanut oil 10.0 White mineral oil (#43) 42.2 Propylene glycol3.0 White mineral oil (#105) 6.9 Diethylcyclohexylamino lauryl sulfate4.5 Stenol (cetyl and stearyl alcohols) 1.1

prepared as a 25% aqueous emulsion to which is added 0.75% (calculatedon the dry weight of the total finish solids) of polyvinyl alcohol(86-89% saponified, saponification No. 127-157, viscosity-5centipoises), was tube wound, as in the previous example, withoutdrying, into threepound packages.

Polyvinyl R Alcohol Finish Finish Coeflicient of friction 0. 54 0. Percent Reject packages 6. 4 7. 9 Warp Defects/Million Thte Major Defects144 353 Minor Defects. 614 1428 Total Defects. 758 1796 Knots/34b.Cone... 3.6 3.7 Per cent l-knot Con 19 12. 3

Although this invention has been specifically illustrated in connectionwith the tube winding of headless packages of cellulose acetate yarn, itwill be obvious to those skilled in the textile yarn art that it isapplicable with like effect to other operations such as skeining,throwing, etc., and may be applied with advantage to textile fibers,filaments, yarn or threads of any other material, such as regeneratedcellulose from viscose, cuprammonium cellulose, cellulose ethers orother cellulose derivatives, vinyl polymers, nylon, poly acrylonitrile,mercerized cotton, etc.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that this invention not onlyenables the production of yarn of improved quality, but, in addition, byreason of fewer rejects, lessened gumming of guides, rolls, etc., itcontributes materially to the economy of such production. Moreover, ithas been observed that the presence of small amounts of polyvinylalcohol serves, in general, to stabilize the finish composition and toimprove roll coverage Where roll applicators are employed.

As many widely different embodiments can be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of this invention, it is to be understood that theinvention is not restricted in any way except as defined in the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. In the process of conditioning textile filaments of synthetic,organic, filament-forming material wherein the freshly formed filamentis dressed with an oil-containing, aqueous finish composition, theimprovement which comprises incorporating in said finish compositionsuificient polyvinyl alcohol to deposit on the filament from 0.005% to0.075% by weight, based on the weight of the filament, of polyvinylalcohol.

2. In the process of conditioning cellulose acetate filaments whereinthe freshly formed filament is dressed with an oil-containing, aqueousfinish composition, the improvement which comprises incorporating insaid finish composition sufiicient polyvinyl alcohol to deposit on thefilament from 0.005% to 0.075% by weight, based on the weight of thefilament, of polyvinyl alcohol.

CARROLL F. CHANDLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,920,564 Jochum Aug. 1, 19332,132,901 Jochum Oct. 11, 1938 2,381,587 Grifin Aug. 7, 1945 2,385,714La Piana Sept. 25, 1945

1. IN THE PROCESS OF CONDITIONING TEXTILE FILAMENTS OF SYNTHETIC,ORGANIC, FILAMENT-FORMING MATERIAL WHEREIN THE FRESHLY FORMED FILAMENTIS DRESSED WITH AN OIL-CONTAINING, AQUEOUS FINISH COMPOSITION, THEIMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES INCORPORATING IN SAID FINISH COMPOSITIONSUFFICIENT POLYVINYL ALCOHOL TO DEPOSIT ON THE FILAMENT FROM 0.005% TO0.075% BY WEIGHT, BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE FILAMENT, OF POLYVINYLALCOHOL.